Investigators probe cause of Lion Air crash into sea in Bali; all 108 on board survive
Published April 14, 2013
Associated Press
This photo released by Indonesia's National Rescue Team shows rescuers at the crash site of a Lion Air plane in Bali, Indonesia on Saturday, April 13, 2013. The plane carrying more than 100 passengers and crew overshot a runway on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Saturday and crashed into the sea, injuring nearly two dozen people, officials said. (AP Photo/National Rescue Team) (The Associated Press)
In this photo released by Indonesia's National Rescue Team, rescuers stand near the wreckage of a crashed Lion Air plane in Bali, Indonesia on Saturday, April 13, 2013. The plane carrying more than 100 passengers and crew overshot a runway on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Saturday and crashed into the sea, injuring nearly two dozen people, officials said. (AP Photo/National Rescue Team) (The Associated Press)
In this photo released by Indonesia's National Rescue Team, rescuers stand near the wreckage of a crashed Lion Air plane in Bali, Indonesia on Saturday, April 13, 2013. The plane carrying more than 100 passengers and crew overshot a runway on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Saturday and crashed into the sea, injuring nearly two dozen people, officials said. (AP Photo/National Rescue Team) (The Associated Press)
The wreckage of a Lion Air jet sits in the ocean near the airport in Bali, Indonesia on Sunday, April 14, 2013. All 108 passengers and crew survived after the new Lion Air jet crashed into the ocean and snapped into two while attempting to land Saturday on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, injuring up to 45 people. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati) (The Associated Press)
Indonesian boys carry pieces of a Lion Air jet a day after the aircraft crashed into the ocean, at Jimbaran beach, in Bali, Indonesia on Sunday, April 14, 2013. All 108 passengers and crew survived after the new Lion Air jet crashed into the ocean and snapped into two while attempting to land Saturday on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, injuring up to 45 people. (AP Photo/Firdia Lisnawati) (The Associated Press)
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BALI, Indonesia – Indonesian investigators on Sunday began working to determine what caused a new Lion Air passenger jet to miss a runway while landing on the resort island of Bali, crashing into the sea without causing any fatalities among the 108 on board.
The National Transportation Safety Committee is examining the wreckage of the Boeing 737-800 that snapped in half before coming to a stop in shallow water near Bali's airport on Saturday, said Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan.
He said aviation authorities had already removed the plane's flight data recorder and were planning to tow the aircraft to a beach. Divers were searching for the cockpit voice recorder located in the tail. Experts are examining what could have caused the crash, including whether wind shear may have played a role.
The crash marked Lion Air's sixth accident in 11 years, and has renewed questions about how safe it is to fly in Indonesia. The country has struggled to clean up its poor air safety record while improving oversight.
All 101 passengers and seven crew members were safely evacuated from the budget carrier's flight, which came from Bandung, the capital of West Java province. Some swam from the wreckage, while others were plucked from the water by rescuers in rubber boats. Dozens suffered injuries, but most had been released from local hospitals by Sunday.
"I couldn't wait to land in Bali when the cabin suddenly turned dark. I heard a sound like an explosion and water was coming in," recalled Irawati, a 60-year-old woman who uses one name, like many Indonesians.
"I heard people shouting frantically: 'The plane crashed! Get out! Get out!' I did not even have the energy to move my body," she said. "I was so weak and frightened, and I was asking a flight attendant for help before I passed out."
Irawati told The Associated Press from her hospital bed that when she regained consciousness, the pilot and co-pilot were putting a life jacket on her and helping her down a rubber ladder. She was then pulled onto a surfboard by rescuers. She suffered neck injuries.
Another survivor, Andi Prasetyo, said there was no warning of any problem.
"The cabin crew had already announced that we would be landing shortly, and I was so excited when I saw the ocean getting closer, but suddenly ... it fell," he said. "I can't believe that the plane actually landed on the sea, and everything changed to dark. It was full of horrific screaming. None of us remembered about the life jackets under our seats. Everybody rushed to get out of the plane."
Officials said there were three foreigners on board — two Singaporeans and a French national — all of whom suffered slight injuries.
Lion Air spokesman Edward Sirait said the plane crashed about 50 meters (164 feet) ahead of the runway. The weather was cloudy with rain at the time of the incident.
He said the Boeing 737-800 Next Generation plane was received by the airline last month and was declared airworthy. The plane had landed in two other cities on Saturday prior to the crash.
Given that the aircraft was new, Sydney-based aviation expert Tom Ballantyne said a technical or mechanical problem would seem unlikely. He said it was fortunate that the plane landed flat in shallow water rather than nose-diving or hitting deep water, where it could have quickly been submerged.
"I'm surprised. The airplane split in two upon impact," he said, estimating it was likely traveling close to 300 miles (483 kilometers) per hour.
"It was coming into land and hit the water very hard. It's a miracle nobody was killed," Ballantyne said.
It was unclear whether human error may have played a role in the accident, and Sirait said the pilot was experienced, logging 10,000 flying hours. However, Indonesian aviation analyst Ruth Simatupang, a former investigator at the National Safety Transportation Committee, suspects some sort of miscalculation involving the landing.
"Something was obviously wrong with the pilot, and wind shear is a possibility that could lead to an unstable approach," she said. Sudden changes in wind speed or direction can lift or smash aircraft into the ground during landing.
The pilot and co-pilot will be grounded for two weeks for tests to ensure they were healthy during the flight and for questioning by investigators. They also have undergone alcohol and drug testing, and the preliminary results were negative, Herry Bakti Gumay, a Transportation Ministry official, told a news conference Sunday. In the past two years, three pilots, one co-pilot and a flight attendant from Lion Air have been arrested for illicit drug use.
The airline said it planned to suck the remaining fuel from the undamaged tanks in the plane's wings before towing it at high tide to avoid destroying the area's coral reefs. Bali is one of Asia's most popular destinations, drawing millions of vacationers with its world-class surf and beautiful beaches.
Rapidly expanding Lion Air is Indonesia's top discount carrier, holding about a 45 percent market share in the country, a sprawling archipelago of 240 million people that's seeing a boom in both economic growth and air travel. The airline has been involved in six accidents since 2002, four of them involving Boeing 737s and one resulting in 25 deaths, according to the Aviation Safety Network's website.
Lion Air is currently banned from flying to Europe due to broader safety lapses in the Indonesian airline industry that have long plagued the country. Last year, a Russian-made Sukhoi Superjet-100 slammed into a volcano during a demonstration flight, killing all 45 people on board.
Indonesia is one of Asia's most rapidly expanding airline markets, but is struggling to provide qualified pilots, mechanics, air traffic controllers and updated airport technology to ensure safety.
Lion Air, a private company which started flying in 2000, signed a $24 billion deal last month to buy 234 Airbus planes, the biggest order ever for the French aircraft maker. It also gave Boeing its largest-ever order when it finalized a deal for 230 planes last year. The aircraft will be delivered from 2014 to 2026 as the airline positions itself to take on AirAsia, which dominates budget travel in the region.
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[agi tadi saya baca berita mana tah, katanya kalau jadi wind shear masa nak landing dan pilot decided untuk abort, ianya boleh di lakukan lago provided ada buffer kuasa.
possibility ini berlaku katanya sama ada buffer kuasa itu tiada pilot reserve kan atau kekuatan wind shear itu lebih kuat daripada semua kuasa itu.
unhas posted on 13-4-2013 06:43 PM
penah naik lion air ni. dia punya landing humang aih sekali gedebuk jatuh.pulak tu dia punya brek si ...
sama la..perna naik! tambang dia murah giler..tapi bila da naik menyesal..bila kat atas, sekejap2 emergency light hidup..dalam hati boleh sampai ke tak..?
noell posted on 15-4-2013 11:32 AM
ala dino jgn risau la...kalo maintenence tiptop ok hapa. enjoy yrself la...takut hapa...eksiden ja ...
klau dah ajal kat mana2 la.... cuma jgn gatai tgk pilem final destination
ada kwn sorang die takut tinggi.... aku dah wat lawak dlm flight nanti aku nak goyang2 melompat2 kat dlm tuh....
tp kwn ni mmg gile takut tinggi... naik kabel car pun sampai die duduk bwh krusi....dok mencangkung..... lawak weh
Vokuro posted on 15-4-2013 09:31 AM
bukan kapal terbang yg tak selamat dik, bukan nya lion air buat kapal terbang sendiri, kapal terba ...
Jgn sembarangan bimbokan orang. Aku kerja pun ada kena mengena dgn airline. Biar pun bukan durang yg buat kapal tp maintenance pun tak bagus. Yg aku maksudkan dgn maintain yg tak bagus, safety measure yg tak bagus, apa punya airline mcm ni. Mmg lah takde org letak pistol kepala aku suruh naik kapal tu. Harap2 jgn nanti korang naik kapal tu satu jatuh pula. Baru nak bising.
Peterpan17 posted on 15-4-2013 11:45 AM
Jgn sembarangan bimbokan orang. Aku kerja pun ada kena mengena dgn airline. Biar pun bukan durang ...
takkan kerja kaitan dengan airlines pun EU tak tahu apa benda dik?
saya yg tak kerja dengan airlines ni pun takde lah bimbo sebegitu sekali.
tak payah nak bajet sangat, tunggu jah hasil siasatan aviation investigators kak. kalau kita dok pom pang sini bukan dapat tahu apa punca sebenar pesawat itu jatuh pun.
setiap kejadian ada penyebab nya. it can be masalah cuaca, pilot yg incompetent atau both. Last edited by Vokuro on 15-4-2013 11:49 AM
unhas posted on 13-4-2013 06:43 PM
penah naik lion air ni. dia punya landing humang aih sekali gedebuk jatuh.pulak tu dia punya brek si ...
brake lama sebentar ini tengok lah juga kaitan dengan runway airport, kalau runway aiport pendek, mmg la hard braking sampai badan kamu ke depan, contohnya kalau kamu travel ke kota baharu, mmg mana2 airlines pun pilot dia akan tekan brake sampai cecah lantai uols
jangan pula kamu salah kan air asia, la, MAS la, fire fly la kalau terbang ke kota baharu bila kamu rasa pilot tekan brake cecah lantai kak, biasa lah macik2 felda pprt biasa drama queen itu ini bila rasa perkara yg lain sikit.
kalau landing di KLIA, tahap2 relax jah lah lagipun mereka akan masuk taxi runway terus jah, tiada perlu nak buat u turn dan sebagai nya
begitu juga dengan tahap keselesaan landing, takde kaitan dengan airlines kak. pengalaman landing takkan konsisten ikut airlines mana kak, itu semua bergantung kepada pilot dan juga cuaca regardless airlines mana yg kamu naiki. Last edited by Vokuro on 15-4-2013 11:57 AM
Exclusive: Lion Air crash pilot felt jet "dragged" from sky
Reuters - The pilot whose Indonesian jet slumped into the sea while trying to land in Bali has described how he felt it "dragged" down by wind while he struggled to regain control, a person familiar with the matter said.
All 108 passengers and crew miraculously survived when the Boeing 737 passenger jet, operated by Indonesian budget carrier Lion Air, undershot the tourist island's main airport runway and belly-flopped in water on Saturday.
Officials stress it is too early to say what caused the incident, which is being investigated by Indonesian authorities with the assistance of U.S. crash investigators and Boeing.
But initial debriefings, witness comments and weather reports have focused attention on the possibility of "wind shear" or a downdraft from storm clouds known as a "microburst".
Although rare, experts say such violent and unpredictable gusts can leave even the most modern jet helpless if they are stronger than the plane's ability to fly out of trouble - with the critical moments before landing among the most vulnerable.
"If you have a downdraft which exceeds the performance of the plane, then even if you put on full thrust you will go downhill and you can't climb out," said Hugh Dibley, a former British Airways captain and expert on loss-of-control events.
The cause of the crash has potential implications for the reputation of one of the world's fastest-growing airlines, which is fighting to be removed from a European Union safety black list even as it buys record volumes of Airbus and Boeing jets.
According to initial pilot debriefings, details of which have been described to Reuters, flight JT-904 was on an eastwards approach to Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport at mid-afternoon on Saturday following a normal flight from Bandung, West Java.
The co-pilot, an Indian national with 2,000 hours of relevant flying experience, was in charge for the domestic trip, which was scheduled to last one hour and 40 minutes.
HEAVY RAIN
As the Lion Air plane was coming in to land, with an aircraft of national carrier Garuda following behind and another about to take off on the runway just ahead, the co-pilot lost sight of the runway as heavy rain drove across the windshield.
The captain, an Indonesian citizen with about 15,000 hours experience and an instructor's license, took the controls.
Between 400 and 200 feet, pilots described flying through a wall of water, according to the source. Bursts of heavy rainfall and lost visibility are not uncommon in the tropics but the aircraft's low height meant the crew had little time to react.
With no sight of the runway lights or markings, the captain decided to abort the landing and perform a "go around", a routine maneuver for which all pilots are well trained.
But the captain told officials afterwards that instead of climbing, the brand-new 737 started to sink uncontrollably.
From 200 feet, well-practiced routines unraveled quickly.
"The captain says he intended to go around but that he felt the aircraft dragged down by the wind; that is why he hit the sea," said the source, who was briefed on the crew's testimony.
"There was rain coming east to west; very heavy," the source said, asking not to be named because no one is authorized to speak publicly about the investigation while it is under way.
A passenger on board the jet painted a similar picture of an aircraft getting into difficulty only at the last minute.
"There was no sign at all it would fall but then suddenly it dropped into the water," Tantri Widiastuti, 60, told Metro TV.
Lion Air declined to comment on the cause of the crash.
WRITE-OFF
According to the Flight Safety Foundation, bulletins for pilots at around that time indicated a few storm clouds at 1,700 feet. A moderate wind blew from the south-southeast but flicked in a wide arc from east-southeast all the way to the west.
The source said there was no immediately obvious evidence of pilot or technical error but investigators will pore over the speed and other settings, as well as interactions between the pilots, to establish whether the crash could have been avoided.
Both pilots were given urine tests by the Indonesian police and were cleared for drugs and alcohol, the source said.
Neither pilot has been named.
According to Indonesian media reports, five Lion Air pilots have been arrested for drugs in the past two years, raising questions over whether drug abuse or overwork are widespread.
The airline's co-founder has denied this and told Reuters last year he was working closely with authorities to ensure Indonesia's tough drugs laws are obeyed.
Delivered in February, the aircraft itself had only had one technical problem: a landing light that had to be replaced.
Now lying broken-backed beneath a 15-foot (4.6-meter) sea-wall yards (meters) short of its destination, the $89-million Boeing has been written off. It was on lease from Dublin-based firm Avolon.
Pictures of the stricken jet lying in water and the fact that all on board survived brought back images of the "Miracle on the Hudson," in which an Airbus A320 ditched safely in New York after dramatically losing power due to a bird strike.
But industry experts say the suspected involvement of wind shear draws far more chilling parallels with the crash of a Delta Air Lines Lockheed Tristar while on approach to Dallas airport in 1985 that killed 134 passengers and crew.
Delta Flight 191 led to the creation of new warning systems and better procedures for dealing with low-level wind shear, or sudden changes of wind direction or speed.
According to Boeing, the 737-800, its most popular current model, is equipped with a "redictive Windshear System". On approach, an aural warning says, "Go around, windshear ahead".
Nowadays, pilots agree the best strategy for dealing with possible wind shear is to avoid it entirely, said Dibley, who is a senior official at the UK's Royal Aeronautical Society.
But if the "wind shear" warning blares out, the automatic response is to cancel the landing and go around again, he said.
DELICATE BALANCE
Pilots can sometimes prepare for risks, such as a possible loss of the right sort of wind on landing, by keeping a buffer of extra speed to help them get out of trouble, he said. It is a delicate balance as too much speed could make the jet overrun, which in the case of Bali means hitting a road or yet more sea.
"If your speed is too slow and you hit a downdraft you will just sink. So one question is how much extra air speed the aircraft was carrying," Dibley said.
There was no immediate information on what cockpit signals were available to the crew, how fast the Lion Air jet was flying or what sort of scheduling roster the crew had been flying.
Founded by two brothers and travel entrepreneurs, Lion Air has been growing at a record pace to keep up with one of the region's star economies. Last month, it signed a deal with Europe's Airbus for 234 passenger jets worth $24 billion. Two years ago, it signed a deal with Boeing for 230 planes.
At the same time, however, Indonesia has been struggling to improve its civil air safety after a string of deadly accidents.
In 2007, Lion Air was among a number of Indonesian airlines banned by the EU for lax safety standards.
The ban was progressively lifted, starting in 2009, but although it has had one fatal accident, Lion Air remains on the EU's banned list - a predicament it has dismissed as unfair.
Reuters Last edited by Vympel77 on 15-4-2013 08:55 PM
actually pilot drunken master lebih terrer sebab imagination beliau mampu melampaui batasan dan ini 'terbukti' melalui citer Flight , yg mana NTSB telah mencipta semula situasi yg sama melalui simulator dan 10 well experienced pilot yg hanya tahu mengikut buku manual SOP telah terhampas.....
Post time 15-4-2013 10:23 AM
